Van Halen 2006–present
 At first, Eddie asked Patty Smyth of Scandal to replace Roth but she said no. Eddie was then introduced by way of a mutual auto mechanic to Sammy Hagar, formerly of 1970s band Montrose, and at that time a solo artist coming off a very successful year (his 1984 album VOA had yielded hit single I Can't Drive 55'). Hagar agreed to join, also serving as a rhythm guitar to add to the Van Halen sound. The 1986 Van Halen album 5150 was a hit, becoming the band's first #1 album on the Billboard charts, driven by the keyboard-dominated singles Why Can't This Be Love?, Dreams and Love Walks In. The album included diverse songs ranging from the thrashiness of Get Up and party rock of Summer Nights to the more introspective Best Of Both Worlds and a guitar heavy title track. To further introduce the new era for the band, a new Van Halen logo was put on the cover. The new logo retained elements of the original, but now it had curved wings instead of straight. 5150 is generally considered the strongest album of the Hagar era.
Main article: 1986 Tour
Following the release of the 5150 album, a tour was launched to support it across North America. Named the 1986 Tour, the title was a homage to the previous 1984 Tour in support of the 1984 album. The band proved touring with Hagar was as successful as with Roth, and footage was released on VHS/DVD as Van Halen - Live Without a Net. In the tour Hagar wanted to minimize the use of pre-Hagar Van Halen songs in the set, other than the band's best known classics. This was a trend that continued, with the expanding repertoire of Hagar-era songs slowly whittling away at the number of Roth-era songs on the set list.
The Van Halen logo used to signify change when Sammy Hagar joined the bandDuring Hagar's tenure, the band established a musical formula that proved commercially successful in the United States. Hagar's style enabled Van Halen to become accessible to a wider audience, with lyrics that were more conventional and refined. Eddie's keyboard work brought a wider variety of sonic textures within each song, and the production was altered toward the pop side, and the songs became longer: During the Roth era, Van Halen songs rarely stretched beyond three and a half minutes, and some albums struggled to cross the thirty minute mark. With Hagar, some songs exceeded five minutes in length. The result was markedly different from the hard charging, rollicking riffs of the group's earlier work. The mix of pop and hard rock styles created a new sound for Van Halen.
All four studio albums produced during this period reached #1 on the Billboard pop music charts and 17 singles breached the top 12 of the mainstream rock tracks chart. In addition, Van Halen was nominated for two Grammy Awards, winning the 1991 Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal award for the album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. Van Halen continued to enjoy tremendous success throughout the mid-90's, while many other bands fell from favor, overtaken by anti-establishment Grunge Music. In 1995 Van Halen surprised many fans by supporting Bon Jovi on their European Summer stadium tour.
The band's commercial success and new Van Hagar sound did little to woo many fans who still held a strong resentment over Roth's departure and refused to move on. However Eddie repeatedly said he was happier with Hagar singing and that Roth was not coming back.
Departure of Hagar
During the recording of songs for the film Twister, escalating tension between Hagar and the Van Halen brothers boiled and Hagar departed on Father's Day, 1996. The band had recorded a song, Humans Being which Eddie claimed he had to write all the lyrics for since Hagar's were too cheesy. This upset Hagar, and when they were to record a second song for the soundtrack Hagar was in Hawaii. He wasn't keen on doing soundtrack work since it would make the music hard to obtain for fans, 'abusing' them, so the second track the band were due to record became an Eddie/Alex instrumental, Respect the Wind.
The band was also working on a compilation album, which Hagar was not keen on since he felt it was not what fans wanted, nor was it something the band needed to release, since they presumably had a long career ahead of them. This led to conflicts with Hagar and the group's new manager, Ray Danniels (Ed Leffler's replacement) who suggested the idea. Reluctant to work on compilation album songs before a new album came out, the band fell out, leaving the management siding with Eddie and Alex. Hagar was also rumoured to have concerns over comparisons on an album which featured both his work and Roth's.
Hagar claimed that he was fired; Van Halen claimed that he quit. The media storm surrounding the dramatic exit of Hagar helped him immediately restart his solo career. However, the publicity did not help Van Halen, serving to highlight the vacant lead singer spot. The band's past successes set high expectations, and fans everywhere were waiting for the band's next move. Throughout this time, Michael Anthony managed to remain on good terms with Hagar.
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